/>iOn April 29, 2025, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released the Top 10 Typical Cases of Intellectual Property Law Administrative Enforcement for 2024 (2024年知识产权执法十大典型案件). Administrative enforcement is an additional route to enforce intellectual property rights and is often faster than civil litigation. While fines and seizure are available, damages are not. It is also possible that SAMR will refer cases to the procuratorate for criminal prosecution. 
A translation of SAMR’s summary follows. The original text is available here (Chinese only).
1. Market supervision departments of nine provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) jointly investigated and dealt with the case of infringement of the exclusive right to use the registered trademark “Jimi” by Jiangxi Caiying Technology Co., Ltd. and others
Chengdu JmGO Technology Co., Ltd. discovered during market sales that Jiangxi Caiying Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Caiying” Company) and its related companies used the “JmGO Nuts” trademark on similar products, suspected of infringing its exclusive right to the “JmGO” registered trademark, causing serious impact on product sales. The infringement involved dozens of entities in processing, warehousing, packaging, sales and other links, across multiple provinces.
After receiving clues about the case, the Law Enforcement Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation immediately convened law enforcement backbones from market supervision departments in nine provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), including Jiangxi, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Guangxi, and Sichuan, to jointly study and formulate a thorough action plan. At the same time, it coordinated with e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Douyin to retrieve the sales records of “Jimi Nuts” suspected of infringing goods and collect the evidence of infringement by the parties. On March 6, 2024, the market supervision departments of nine provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) took unified action to conduct surprise inspections on all the entities involved in the case, and verified the illegal acts of all relevant companies in one fell swoop. The State Administration for Market Regulation sent personnel to Jiangxi and Guangdong to supervise and guide on the spot. Based on the illegal facts found out by the centralized action, the State Administration for Market Regulation designated the Yichun Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Jiangxi Province to conduct a unified investigation and handling of “Caiying” Company and the related companies controlled by it.
Upon investigation, it was found that Xiao XX, the actual controller of “Caiying” company, registered a total of 10 companies, commissioned others to produce projectors, projection screens and other products, used trademarks such as “Jimi Nuts” on the products and their packaging, and opened 25 online stores for sale on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Pinduoduo, Taobao, and Douyin. The Yichun Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Jiangxi Province made a penalty decision in accordance with the law, confiscated the illegal income of 3.1434 million RMB from 10 companies including “Caiying”, imposed a fine of 1.9287 million RMB, and the total fines and confiscations were 5.0721 million RMB. In this case, “Caiying” company reached a settlement agreement with the right holder, admitted the infringement and compensated for the loss of 4 million RMB. Other companies involved in this case (processing, warehousing and packaging companies, etc.) will be further investigated and handled by the local market supervision department.
2. Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau investigates and punishes Beijing Youyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. for infringing the exclusive right to use the registered trademark “LEGO”
In May 2024, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau received a tip-off from Lego Co., Ltd., stating that Beijing Youyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd. had infringed on the exclusive right to use a registered trademark. After receiving the tip-off, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau quickly launched an investigation. When law enforcement officers conducted an on-site inspection at the business premises of Beijing Youyou Education Consulting Co., Ltd., they found that the company’s main business was education and training, which was the same as the trademark verification service items held by Lego Co., Ltd. At the same time, the company used the “乐高”, “LEGO” and ”” trademark logos on the signs of its business premises, classroom doorplates in the store, promotional posters, front desk, etc., and was unable to provide legal license documents for the use of these trademarks. Law enforcement officers questioned and investigated the person in charge of the company, and the person confessed to the use of the relevant trademarks. At the same time, law enforcement officers conducted a detailed analysis of the company’s operating data and determined that the illegal business volume totaled 3.5138 million RMB.
The act of a party using a trademark identical to a registered trademark on the same kind of goods without the permission of the trademark registrant constitutes an infringement of the exclusive right to a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 57 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the circumstances are serious and suspected of criminal offenses. The Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau will transfer the case to the judicial authorities for handling in accordance with the law.
3. The Market Supervision Bureau of Xindu District, Xingtai City, Hebei Province investigated and dealt with the case of infringement of the exclusive right to use the registered trademark “Huawei”
In December 2023, the Xindu District Market Supervision Bureau of Xingtai City, Hebei Province received a complaint from a consumer that the screen and battery of the Huawei mobile phone they purchased on the Douyin live broadcast platform “Tangtang Youxuan Second-hand Mobile Phone” and “Mijing Youxuan Second-hand Mobile Phone” had problems. The Xingtai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and the Xindu District Market Supervision Bureau immediately set up a special task force to launch an enforcement investigation.
The Douyin store involved in the case, “Tangtang Optimal Used Phones”, is actually registered under Kuamoutang Network Technology Co., Ltd., and its principal is Mu. The other Douyin store involved in the case, “Mijing Optimal Used Phones”, is actually registered under MiXX Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., and its principal is Xue. Both stores claimed that they sold official genuine mobile phones of the “Huawei” brand through Douyin live broadcast rooms. It was found that the items involved in the case were assembled by the parties themselves without the authorization of the rights holder, and were infringing goods.
On March 26, 2024, the Xingtai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and the Xingtai Municipal Public Security Bureau dispatched a number of law enforcement officers and police officers at the municipal and county levels, and divided them into 4 evidence collection and arrest teams to carry out a roundup operation simultaneously. 11 people involved in the case were arrested on the spot, 2 mobile phone assembly factories and 2 live broadcast rooms were destroyed, and the mobile phones involved in the case (Mate series, Pura series) and related accessories worth more than 3 million RMB were seized. The amount involved in the online sales of the two stores was as high as 16.408 million RMB.
The party’s act of selling goods that infringe the exclusive right to use a registered trademark constitutes an act of infringing the exclusive right to use a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 57 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China. As the amount involved is large, it is suspected of constituting a crime, and the law enforcement department has transferred the case to the judicial authority for handling in accordance with the law.
4. Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau investigates and punishes five companies and individuals including Shanghai Jixu Food Co., Ltd. for infringing the exclusive right to use the “Liuhe” registered trademark
In March 2024, based on reports from rights holders, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and Suzhou Market Supervision Department launched a joint law enforcement operation, seizing 18 tons of infringing frozen poultry, more than 1,500 counterfeit packages and multiple infringing printing templates, with a total amount involved of more than 5.2 million RMB.
After investigation, it was found that from November 2023 to March 2024, Shanghai Jixu Food Co., Ltd. and Yu XX conspired to entrust relevant enterprises in Changzhou to print packaging boxes containing the Liuhe trademark. Subsequently, Yu used the above-mentioned counterfeit packaging boxes to pack low-priced single frozen chicken breasts and other products. Jixu Company purchased more than 100,000 boxes of the above-mentioned counterfeit products from Yu and sold them to Tang XX. Tang then sold them to the outside through relevant online platforms. The total amount involved in the case of the above-mentioned parties is more than 3.4 million RMB.
It was also found that Shanghai Nuoping Industrial Co., Ltd. purchased more than 30,000 counterfeit Liuhe trademarked packaging boxes from a Suzhou company and Shanghai Gujun Packaging Materials Co., Ltd., and used the counterfeit packaging boxes to pack low-priced single frozen chicken breasts and other products, and sold them through relevant e-commerce platforms, involving more than 1.4 million RMB. Shanghai Gujun Company produced and sold more than 230,000 counterfeit packaging boxes without authorization, involving more than 400,000 RMB.
The actions of the above five companies and individuals violated Article 57 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China. As the amount involved was large, they were suspected of committing a crime. The case handling department transferred the relevant cases to the public security organs for handling in accordance with the law. At present, the above parties have been prosecuted.
5. The Market Supervision Bureau of Longwan District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province investigated and dealt with the case of Wenzhou Zunxiang Technology Co., Ltd. selling goods that infringed the exclusive right of registered trademarks
The Market Supervision Bureau of Longwan District, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, investigated and dealt with the illegal behavior of Wenzhou Zunxiang Technology Co., Ltd. in selling goods that infringed the exclusive rights of registered trademarks in accordance with the law. The amount involved was more than 10 million RMB. As the party’s behavior was suspected of constituting a crime, the case has been transferred to the public security organs for handling.
At the beginning of 2024, the Market Supervision Bureau of Longwan District, Wenzhou City received reports from many consumers, reporting that Wenzhou Zunxiang Technology Co., Ltd. attracted customers through low-priced mobile phones online, and fabricated “operator subsidies” offline to induce consumers to exchange for Apple Bluetooth headphones. The headphones provided by one of the consumers were identified by Apple, and the outer packaging, printing details and production process were significantly different from the genuine ones. In response, law enforcement officers immediately launched an investigation into the store, extracted a large amount of electronic data on the spot, accurately locked more than 200 false mobile phone sales records and exchange evidence, and completely eradicated the illegal chain of “low-price traffic-induced exchange-high-price fake sales”. Combined with logistics data traceability and geographic information visualization technology, a network map of counterfeiting and selling counterfeit products covering five provinces including Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong was drawn, and sales and storage locations were accurately located.
In response to the illegal activities, the Longwan District Market Supervision Bureau and the public security organs set up a special task force to carry out a unified cross-provincial crackdown operation, successfully destroying 5 stores selling counterfeit goods and 5 storage locations, and seized more than 1,000 counterfeit Apple Bluetooth headsets and more than 5,000 infringing mobile phone cases on the spot. 32 criminal suspects were arrested, and the total amount involved in the case was more than 10 million RMB.
6. Anhui Province Fuyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau investigates and punishes Gu Moumou and others for infringing the exclusive rights of registered trademarks such as “Arc’teryx”
In December 2023, the Market Supervision Bureau of Fuyang City, Anhui Province received a case clue that Fuyang Pengfei Clothing Co., Ltd. was suspected of producing infringing clothing. Law enforcement officers immediately launched an investigation and found that the company’s legal representative Zhang XX, in order to increase sales and expand profits, produced a total of 7,323 “Arc’teryx” jackets that infringed on the exclusive rights of others’ registered trademarks under the arrangement of the client Gu XX, involving a total amount of more than 1.44 million RMB.
Because the illegal facts of the case have reached the standard for criminal prosecution, the Fuyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau transferred the case to the public security organs for investigation on December 28, 2023. Subsequently, the public security and market supervision departments set up a special task force to carry out joint law enforcement. From January to April 2024, the task force went to Ningbo, Anqing, Bozhou, Chizhou, Lu’an, Cangzhou, Langfang and other places to conduct investigations and tracking, seized a large number of infringing clothing, and successfully destroyed more than 20 production, warehousing and sales dens. It was found that since September 2019, Gu, without the permission of the trademark registrant, customized fabrics and accessories according to various well-known brands of clothing, produced counterfeit logos, and commissioned clothing processing factories in many provinces and cities to process clothing that infringed trademark brands such as “Arc’teryx”, “The North Face”, “Adidas”, “Gucci”, “Lululemon”, “Amy”, and “Balenciaga”, and then hired employees to promote and sell them. The amount involved in the case reached more than 200 million RMB. In April 2024, the procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Gu and others for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks. So far, 6 people have been sentenced and 15 people have been approved for prosecution.
7. The Market Supervision Bureau of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province investigated and dealt with the case of Shen’s gang producing and selling trademark-infringing “specially supplied wine”
In July 2024, the Market Supervision Bureau of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province received a report from the public that there were illegal production and sales of “special supply wine.” The bureau quickly launched the investigation procedure and established a joint working group with the public security department to jointly handle the case. On July 24, the joint working group launched a surprise operation after careful deployment, and conducted surprise inspections on multiple suspected production and storage locations, successfully destroying 2 major production dens and 10 storage dens, and at the same time destroyed 3 criminal gangs that produced and sold counterfeit well-known brand wines. Law enforcement officers seized more than 1,000 pieces of Moutai liquor with words such as “Great Hall of the People”, “Beijing West Hotel”, “Beijing Military Region” and “State Council” labeled “specially supplied”, as well as counterfeit Moutai, Wuliangye, Guojiao 1573, Baiyunbian and other brand finished liquors; more than 1,000 kilograms of counterfeit raw material base liquor; 5 sets of filling equipment, air pumps, rivet guns and other production tools and more than 210,000 packaging materials. The amount involved in the case was as high as more than 80 million RMB. The sales network covered 15 provinces and cities across the country, and 26 criminal suspects were arrested.
The party involved in the case, Shen’s gang, forged and used the above-mentioned “special supply” trademark logo, misleading consumers into thinking that it was a high-end product customized for a specific institution or occasion. In fact, these so-called “special supply wines” are just ordinary liquors, which are sold at high prices by attaching false labels and counterfeiting well-known brand liquors, seriously infringing on consumers’ right to know and right to choose. The party’s behavior constitutes an illegal act of infringing on the exclusive right of others to use registered trademarks. Because the value of the goods involved is huge and it is suspected of constituting a crime, the case has been transferred to the judicial authorities for handling.
8. The Jieyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Guangdong Province investigated and dealt with the case of Wang XX producing watches with counterfeit registered trademarks of “ROLEX”, “RADO” and “FOSSIL”
In December 2023, the Jieyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Guangdong Province, based on the clues of the report, jointly with the public security organs, inspected a den suspected of producing counterfeit watches of well-known trademark brands. 3,470 finished watches marked with the “ROLEX” logo, 900 dials (semi-finished products), 3,000 straps (semi-finished products), and 300 finished watches marked with the “RADO” and “FOSSIL” logos were found on the spot. The Jieyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau filed a case on the same day and took administrative compulsory measures to seize the above-mentioned items involved in the case in accordance with the law.
Upon investigation, it was found that the parties, Mr. and Mrs. Wang XX, had hired five workers to process watches with the “ROLEX”, “RADO” and “FOSSIL” logos for them since June 2023 without obtaining a license to use the registered trademarks such as “ROLEX”, “RADO” and “FOSSIL”. According to the identification opinion issued by the domestic legal institution authorized by the right holder, the finished watches marked with the “ROLEX”, “RADO” and “FOSSIL” logos produced by the parties were not produced by the right holder or with its permission.
The party produced watches with “ROLEX”, “RADO” and “FOSSIL” trademarks without the permission of the trademark registrant, which constituted an illegal act of infringement of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 57 (1) of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, with a value of 116.9465 million yuan. The Jieyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau transferred the case to the judicial authorities for handling in accordance with the law. At present, the seven suspects have been transferred to the procuratorate for prosecution in accordance with the law.
9. Chongqing Youyang County Market Supervision Bureau and the public security organs jointly investigated and dealt with the case of Chen et al. selling goods that infringed the exclusive rights of registered trademarks such as “LV”
In January 2024, law enforcement officers from the Market Supervision Bureau of Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing City, discovered during an inspection that the Balenciaga, Dior, and LV brand products sold by a store with the sign “Shark Luxury Buyer Store” were suspected of counterfeiting other people’s registered trademarks. Because the party Chen could not provide the authorization basis for the goods sold, law enforcement officers immediately seized more than 490 suspected infringing goods in accordance with the law. After identification by the right holder, the goods sold by the party were all counterfeit registered trademarks of others, and the value of the goods reached more than 2.5 million RMB. His behavior constituted an illegal act as stipulated in Article 57 (3) of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China. Because the amount involved was large and suspected of being a crime, the Youyang County Market Supervision Bureau transferred the case to the public security organs for investigation.
After investigation, it was found that since 2019, the suspects Zhou, Luo, Wen and others have set up processing factories in Guangdong to produce counterfeit brand clothing, bags, and footwear products, and wholesaled them to Chen and others through logistics delivery, and then sold them through e-commerce platforms, offline physical stores, and online social media. From April to May 2024, the market supervision department and the public security organs jointly dispatched more than 60 law enforcement personnel to Chongqing, Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan and other places to carry out case investigation and handling, destroying 5 counterfeiting “black factories” and 18 “black dens”, and seized more than 75,000 counterfeit clothing and bags, more than 20,000 semi-finished products, and more than 80 sets of counterfeiting equipment. The amount involved is as high as more than 300 million RMB. At present, 14 people have been transferred for prosecution, and the case is under further investigation.
10. The Market Supervision Bureau of Luzhou City, Sichuan Province investigated and dealt with the case of Luzhou Brothers Yijia Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd. infringing the exclusive right to use the registered trademark “Brothers Decoration”
In May 2024, Chongqing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau received a report from Chongqing Brothers Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the right holder), claiming that Luzhou Brothers Yijia Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the party) infringed its exclusive right to use the registered trademark No. 52642360 “Brothers Decoration”. As the party is located in Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and Sichuan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau held a joint law enforcement cooperation meeting within the framework of Sichuan-Chongqing cooperation to guide the handling of the case, and handed the case over to Luzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau for handling.
According to the investigation by the Luzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, the party concerned was established on March 12, 2024 and engaged in interior decoration services. In April 2024, it commissioned an advertising company to replace the “Yi Ge Decoration” on the billboard on the facade of the building with “Brothers Decoration”; and replaced the “Thangka Decoration” above the entrance hall, on the floor distribution sign, and on the front wall of the elevator room with “Brothers Decoration”.
The “Brother Decoration” logo used by the party in advertisements, shop signs and contracts is exactly the same as the registered trademark No. 52642360 “Brother Decoration” in terms of language, text composition, font, arrangement order, etc., and is the same trademark. It was also found that the party signed 23 contracts with consumers, with a total contract amount of 2.74 million RMB. The party’s use of the same logo as the registered trademark of the right holder in advertisements, shop signs and contracts without permission constitutes an infringement of the exclusive right to a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 57 (1) of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China. Because the party is suspected of committing a crime, the Luzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau has transferred the case to the public security organs for handling.
